Fruits Basket I: Lemon
by i-s-o-d-e-l-l-e
Summary: She didn't like him. Just because he’s so adorably cute that she wants to hug him to death doesn’t mean that she likes him. After all, he’d probably be like that song about lemon trees. Pretty but unpleasantly sour. Okay so maybe he DID taste good.


_L E M O N_

_oOoOoOoOo_

_The pretty, young teacher smiled at the class of five year olds who were arranged in a circle in front of her. "Class," she said, "My name is Miss Tifa Lockhart but you may just call me Miss Tifa. I'll be your teacher this year. Now that I've introduced myself, I'd like all of you to go around the circle and say who you are and one thing about yourself. Why don't we start with…Selphie?"_

"_Hi, I'm Selphie and my favorite color is yellow!"_

"_I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! I get to call Leon by his REAL name Squall!" Tifa coughed as she tried to suppress her laughter._

"_I'm Sora and I like Kairi!" The class grew silent and Sora looked around in confusion. "What?"_

"_I don't think Miss Tifa meant to go embarrass the girl you like when she said to say something about yourself." Riku shook his head at Sora's naïveté._

"_Oh. Well then, my name is Sora and I-"_

"_Moving on," Tifa interrupted Sora. The class continued until there were only two students left._

"_I'm Roxas and I like lemons!"_

"_I'm Namine and I dislike lemons."_

"_Really? Let's be friends!" Namine raised an eyebrow at Roxas. What kind of weirdo asks a total stranger to be friends when they already seem like totally opposites? And so, Namine said the first thing that popped into her head._

"_You're crazy."_

oOoOoOoOo

"Class, today for Home Ec. you'll be making lemon bars! Won't that be so fun, Namine?" Miss Gainsborough smiled cheerfully at a fourteen year old Namine.

"She's doing this to me on purpose isn't she?" Namine muttered to herself as she put on her apron.

"Yeah, everyone knows you hate lemons." Roxas suddenly popped out of the cupboard next to her causing her to let out a small startled, "eep!"

"What- What are you doing there?"

"I'm your partner for today!"

"The world hates me."

"…"

"…"

"Let's be friends!"

"You're crazy." Namine pretended to glare at Roxas as she got out the ingredients for the lemon bar. Pretended.

oOoOoOoOo

It's hard to hate someone after you've been unanimously been voted by the whole school in eighth grade as the official unofficial couple of the year. Don't ask Namine how that works out. She's not quite sure herself although she does have a sneaking suspicion that it had a little A LOT to do with her cousin Kairi who just happened to be the yearbook editor that year.

It's also hard to be friends with someone who is sneaky, manipulative, and darn cute while doing it. Whenever Roxas annoyed Namine, she just couldn't help but forgive him. It's not that she likes him. It's just that adorably irresistible puppy dog look that made her want to hug him to death. But it's not that she likes him.

Namine could swear she could hear Kairi saying, "The Nile isn't just a river in Egypt."

oOoOoOoOo

"Don't juggle those eggs!"

"Relax, Namine. I'm a pro at this."

"Put those eggs down! **_NOW!_** How could you drop them!"

"It's just that when you yelled it scared me!"

"I'll clean up the mess! You'd probably make it worse! Now try not to ruin the filling!"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"And cut the military talk!"

"Yes, my dearest- OUCH!"

"Just be quiet before I hit you with the rolling pin again!"

"Your wish is my command!"

"Will someone _please_ help me!"

"I will! Do you want me to mop the floor?"

"No! Hey… do you smell something burning? AAAAA! What kind of idiot are you?"

"Um… An idiot that accidentally turns on stoves and leaves lemon bar filling on it?"

"I'm going to fail Home Ec. and it'll be your fault!"

"Look at the bright side of things!"

"What bright side?"

"You're with me and lemons!"

"Someone, anyone, help me!"

The class shook their heads. It was going to be a long, NOISY day.

oOoOoOoOo

"Hey, Namine?"

"What?"

"Do you like lemons?"

"No."

"Namine?"

"What?"

"Do you like lemons?"

"NO."

"Do you-"

"No, no and no!"

"Yay! She doesn't hate me or lemons!" Roxas giggled childishly while Namine groaned in frustration

The class looked at their oven timers wondering when would those lemon bars hurry up and get baked.

oOoOoOoOo

"You know, Namine, whenever you pair up with Roxas for cooking assignments your food gets voted as the best in the classroom."

"…My food always gets voted best in the class…"

"But it tastes absolutely _heavenly _when you make it with Roxas!"

"That's because it has a special ingredient added."

"What? Is it love?"

"... That's just too disgusting."

oOoOoOoOo

"Since today is the last day of school I've prepared a treat for my two best students." Aerith beamed. "Roxas and Namine, please come up here. I'd like to present you two with …

"A LEMONG MERINGUE PIE!" Roxas pumped his fist in the air and Namine groaned.

"Miss Aerith, you do know I hate lemons and I hate Roxas, right?"

"Yup!"

"So why do this to me?"

"Because Roxas loves lemons and you!"

"…I hate you." Namine glared at the boy and the pie.

"Well, I hope you enjoy eating the lemon meringue pie _together!_ Class dismissed!" The students and teachers ran out the door.

"Alright, lemon meringue pie. Do your worst." Namine glowered at the offending pie. Roxas smiled.

"I knew you loved lemons!"

_PUNCH!_

Namine glared down at the cowering body of the boy. "I hate lemons."

oOoOoOoOo

"I hate lemons."

"Cheer up. As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons make lemonade!"

"I say when life gives you lemons throw them right back with a few lemons of your own!"

"Or you could always make lemon meringue pie." Roxas forced a piece of the pie into Namine's mouth using his fork. She gagged.

"Ew… That fork had your germs all over it!" She turned ashen as Roxas licked the fork. "I just exchanged spit with you!"

"I know! We had our first kiss! I knew you loved me!"

_PUNCH!_

Namine glared down at the cowering body of the boy. "I hate you."

oOoOoOoOo

"If you hate lemons so much, why are you eating the pie?"

"You know how long it takes to make lemon meringue pies? It takes AGES to beat the eggs and make them nice and fluffy. It would be a waste not to eat it."

"So you just don't want the time and effort to go to waste?"

"Uh-huh."

"There isn't anything else?"

"What else would there be?"

"That you like lemons and me?"

_PUNCH!_

Namine glared down at the cowering body of the boy. "I hate lemons and you."

oOoOoOoOo

"Why do you hate lemons so much?"

"Why do you love lemons so much?"

"They're sour but sweet. Like you." Roxas smiled at Namine but his eyes were serious. It scared Namine for some reason. She shoved a piece of pie into his mouth using her fork.

"You sound like a love-sick idiot," She muttered as she ate the last forkful of pie. She sighed with relief. "The last trace of lemon is finally gone!" Namine noticed Roxas smiling from ear to ear. "What?"

"We just kissed again."

"We exchanged spit. That doesn't count as a real kiss."

"Yes, it does!"

"No, this does." Namine kissed Roxas straight on the lips stunning him. She licked her lips. "Hmmm… I was wrong."

Roxas still hadn't quite gotten over the shock of the kiss but he managed to squeak out, "What were you wrong about?"

"It wasn't in the pie."

"Huh?"

"The last trace of lemon was in you."

oOoOoOoOo

Slightly OOC... oh well. XD I wrote this after eating lemon meringue pie one day, saved it on my computer, and promptly forgot it. And then, months later, I was eating lemon meringue pie when I remembered about this piece. So I revived it (and deleted this other story that I was writing because I had no idea where I was going with it. XD) and attempted to put them a bit more in character... I actually can't imagine Roxas burning food... it sounds like something Axel would do... except I don't think it would be on accident... Well,tell me what you think, please!


End file.
